The naira ended the week on a stronger note at the official foreign exchange market, appreciating to N1,363 per dollar on Friday, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
CBN trading figures show the local currency followed a broadly stable but firmer trajectory throughout the week, supported by modest accretion of external reserves, even as the divergence between official and parallel market rates persisted.
The currency opened the week at N1,384.5 per dollar on Monday, strengthened to N1,367 on Tuesday and N1,359 on Wednesday, before slipping slightly to N1,368 on Thursday. It recovered on Friday to close at N1,363 per dollar. During the session, the naira traded within a band of N1,373 to N1,361 per dollar, with a simple average rate of N1,366.78.
Compared with recent benchmarks, the performance reflects continued recovery at the official window. The naira had closed the previous week at N1,391 per dollar, making the latest level a clear week-on-week appreciation. Gains are more pronounced relative to early January, when the currency ended trading on January 2 at N1,431 per dollar, indicating a sustained strengthening trend over the past month under relatively orderly market conditions.
Despite the improvement at the official window, pressures remained evident in the parallel segment. The naira traded at N1,440.81 per dollar in the parallel market on Friday, slightly firmer than N1,441.11 on Thursday. Still, the spread between both markets widened to N77.81 from N73.11 the previous day, underscoring ongoing structural segmentation.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s external reserves rose during the week to $46.8 billion from $46.5 billion, according to CBN data — a development that likely contributed to improved sentiment at the official market.
